Not So Casual
by MarlyCook
Summary: Her voice stopped him, and he smirked as his back was turned to her. "So," she began, "you're not jealous?" Jess turned back to her and tilted his head to the side. "Like I said, I'm not thrilled, but I'm not mad. And really have no right to be jealous." Present time.


**A/N:** Still doing "About You," don't worry! This next chapter of it is just hard to write. This story, however, may be 2-3 chapters long. Not very long, just got a bit of inspiration from the BRAND NEW TRAILER COMING OUT! AHH! So, it's set in 2016, present time, so they're both 32 and everything that happened in the past has happened.

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing, but a love for Gilmore.

* * *

The curtains had an unfortunate gap where the sun shone through, a sliver of light streaking across her face, harshly making its presence known to her right eye. Rory blinked a few times with a groan, pulling the pillow over her face to shield herself. After a moment of gaining her composure, she sat up in bed, pressing the navy sheets to her chest as she glanced over at the clock beside her.

"Coffee," she all but grunted, using her left hand to wipe at her sleep-laced eyes.

A matching grunt came from beside her, the sheets moving as a head poked out from under them. "What?" He questioned, hoarsely, trying hard not to be annoyed at his interrupted slumber.

She nudged his shin with the pad of her foot, using all of the strength she could muster at this early hour. "I need coffee," she repeated, glancing down at him as he rubbed his eyes.

"You know where the coffee maker is," he mumbled, running a hand through his dark hair while pushing himself to a sitting position.

"But it always tastes better when it's made _for_ me," Rory retorted with a smile, leaning back against the headboard.

He deeply sighed, muttered something incoherently, and pushed the covers off of his naked body. He grabbed the boxer briefs on the floor and threw them on before exiting the bedroom. There was no arguing with her.

"You have such a way with words, Mariano!" Rory called from the bed, laughing a little now that she had time to wake up. She heard his footsteps grow further from the bedroom and peeled the sheets from her body. She grabbed her bag from the corner of the room and pulled out fresh underwear and a t-shirt before following him to the kitchen.

"What time is your flight?" Jess asked her, leaning against the counter as he waited for her coffee to be done.

She shuffled over to him and smoothed her wild hair down as she got closer. "Noon," she replied, slipping her arms around his waist and leaning her head on his bare chest. "Is it almost done?" She asked into his skin, her voice muffled. "I can't wake up without it."

He chuckled and wrapped a loose arm around her lower back. He pressed his lips to her temple before moving them over her ear and eventually to the sensitive skin underneath her lobe. "Give it a few more minutes."

Rory's eyes closed and she caught her breath at the sensation. "Is this your alternative to wake me up?"

"Maybe," he mumbled, smirking a little. "You're the one that threw yourself on me this morning."

Her laugh was always his favorite and it fell from her lips in a graceful manner. "God forbid I hug you without you trying to get in my pants."

"I see no pants," he retorted with a smirk, raising an eyebrow at her bare legs pressed against his.

Before she could respond, she heard the coffee maker click, and grinned as she pushed him out of the way and quickly took the pot off of the burner. Jess pulled down a mug from above her head and placed it in front of her just as she was ready to pour. "You need a new coffee maker that wasn't manufactured in 1998."

"I stick to what I know. This is what I know," he said with a shrug, pouring himself a cup as well.

She let the liquid gold slide down her throat and flow through her veins, her eyes closed in pure ecstasy. "Mmm," she moaned. "Nothing, and I mean nothing, can ever pleasure me more than the first sip of coffee in the morning."

"Is that a challenge?" He responded, laughing as a grin graced his features. "Because I love a challenge."

"Maybe next time," she responded with an eyebrow raised and a sly smile on her lips. "I have to shower and get dressed for my flight."

"Fine," he pouted, setting his mug down before walking past her. "Let me jump in there first and you can have it. It won't take me as long and I have stuff to do today, as well."

She nodded before leaning her hip into the counter and tilting her head to the side. "Hey, I meant to mention something to you."

He turned in the doorway, looking at her expectantly.

"So, you know I'm heading to Baltimore," she began, passing her weight from one foot to the other as her nerves got the best of her. She watched him nod an acknowledgment before she continued. "Well, the last time I was there about a month ago, I was there for like a day and ran into Logan. You remember Logan, right?"

"I believe so," Jess replied, folding his arms over his chest, suddenly interested to see where this was going.

"Yeah," Rory replied, nodding some as she looked down at the black liquid in the pale blue mug that said "Las Vegas" in bright orange colors. "Anyway, he said the next time I come down we should catch up. So, I may grab coffee or lunch with him while I'm there."

After a moment, Jess nodded and shrugged his shoulder. "Alright," he said, "Is that all?"

A look of confusion graced her features and she nodded as well, taken aback by his demeanor. "Alright? Really? You don't care that I'm going to eat with an ex?"

"I mean, I wouldn't say I didn't care," he replied, leaning back against the doorframe. "I just… I mean, we aren't really anything."

"Ouch."

"That's not what I meant," he said with a small laugh. "You know what I meant. We aren't in a relationship. We're, how did you put it? Casual? I mean, I've made my intentions clear, and you have as well. You don't want a relationship because of your unpredictable traveling. I accepted that."

She set her mug down and crossed her arms over her chest as well, sighing some. "No, I know that," she said, becoming flustered. "I just—I thought you'd be upset by that, which is why I let you know."

"I'm not saying I'm jumping for joy at the thought, but I don't really have the right to be uncomfortable. We aren't dating," he reiterated, which only caused her to become annoyed.

"Okay, whatever, fine," she replied, picking her mug back up. "I'm glad you're not jealous or mad or anything. I didn't want to deal with that."

"Good," he nodded, turning to leave the kitchen.

Her voice stopped him, and he smirked as his back was turned to her. "So," she began, "you're not jealous?"

Jess turned back to her and tilted his head to the side. "Like I said, I'm not thrilled, but I'm not mad. And really have no right to be jealous."

"Okay," she said, glancing down at her feet.

"Just like if I were to have dinner with Yvonne, you couldn't be mad or jealous," he responded, maybe just to get a rise out of her by bringing up his last serious girlfriend.

"What?" She asked, looking up at him from her place in the kitchen. "Oh, yeah. Of course not."

"Then we're on the same page."

"But, I mean, do you have plans to eat with Yvonne?"

He smiled a little and gave her a wink before turning to walk down the hall, finding pleasure in torturing her a bit.

"Jess!" She called, setting her mug down as she followed him down the hall. "You can't avoid the question!" He slipped into the bathroom and she followed him inside, laughing as he grabbed her by the waist and shut the door behind her, both of them momentarily forgetting about their conversation.

* * *

"Well, hello favorite daughter of mine," Lorelai chirped as she answered Rory's call, walking through The Dragonfly and towards the front desk to grab the mail.

"Good morning," she responded, smiling as she pushed through the people in the airport, heading to her gate. "I was just wanting to call before I boarded my plane."

Lorelai glanced at the clock reading one-thirty and grabbed the mail from the desk to shuffle through as she sat in the lobby. "Isn't your flight at noon? Are you already going to your gate?"

"Its ten-thirty here, mom."

"I know."

"So, I like to be seated in the lobby at least an hour before boarding time."

"No sense of adventure, huh? No cutting it close to the very last minute so you can breathlessly run to your gate in hopes that you aren't too late to stop your ex-lover from leaving town and you," she rambled, dramatically, plopping down on the couch by the window.

"Unfortunately, I don't live in a romance novel."

"Drat, I'm getting extremely bored of your dull life," Lorelai replied, ripping open an envelope. "So, where are you headed this time?"

"I thought I told you," she responded, hoisting the strap of her carry-on up on her shoulder. "I'm going to Baltimore for three days before flying home to spend a week with you for Christmas."

"Oh! Right, I forgot it was getting so close to Christmas. I can't wait for you to be here. They lost the lights to the town Christmas tree and it's been a fiasco," she said, laughing at the thought of it.

Rory laughed as well, looking up at the sign that signaled she was getting closer to her gate. "I bet Taylor is flipping."

"He's trying to get search warrants for every townsperson's home. I believe the last town meeting he claimed that this was a conspiracy. And that someone in our town was acting as a Benedict Arnold and spying on Stars Hollow for Woodberry."

"I can not wait to be home."

"We miss you, kid," Lorelai replied, sighing happily as she looked down at the unopened mail she was ignoring. "You're in Seattle, right? Making sure I'm not getting my dates and locations messed up."

"Right."

"Uh huh…" Lorelai began, almost expectantly. "For work?"

"Well, not really," Rory shrugged, quickly cursing herself for leaving that wide open for questions.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I had two days free and just decided to sightsee. Flights to Seattle were cheap, so why not?" She defended, laughing awkwardly.

"Right. So, Seattle is just full of things to 'sightsee' for two days?" Lorelai asked with a tight smile.

There was a sigh before Rory groaned a little and pushed her hand through her hair. "Alright, fine. I was visiting Jess. Are you happy?"

The older brunette closed her eyes and shook her head, inhaling deeply before she responded. "Jess. Okay, why were you visiting Jess for two days? Are you dating?" It wasn't that she still hated him. In fact, she liked him. However, she liked Jess as Luke's nephew and the guy who talked sense back into her dropout daughter. She didn't know if she liked Jess that was dating Rory.

"No," she responded, quickly. "No. We aren't dating. We are just … casually seeing each other. It's not serious or anything. We just see each other when we see each other."

"Oh, so you're friends?"

"Kind of," Rory replied, not wanting to get into this with her while she was standing around hundreds of strangers.

Lorelai knew what that meant and she tightened her grip around her mail, suddenly getting antsy. "Sleeping together?"

"Mom," Rory replied, sharply, closing her eyes.

"Oh, so you're sleeping together. Okay, well, okay then. But, you aren't dating? Just sleeping together?"

"We go out to eat together and stuff when I'm in town, so I guess that's a date. But, we just aren't in a relationship," she replied, biting her bottom lip some. "I'm too busy for one. He doesn't mind. Neither of us are seeing anyone else."

"Aren't you both a little old for a Mila Kunis/Justin Timberlake relationship?"

"That is not what this is. Look, we are both totally okay with this. And we are responsible adults, so it's not really a big deal. Remember Alex? I do believe that he came at a time when you were around my age. Casual dating? Nothing serious?"

"Okay, okay…" Lorelai responded, biting her lip some with a sigh. "How did this even begin?"

She was growing a little exhausted with the conversation, hoping her mom would just drop it. But that was a fat chance. "When he came down for Grandpa's funeral," she said, slowly, hesitantly, those words still hurting her. "He gave me his number. I went to Seattle a few weeks later. We went out for dinner, had a few drinks, and … you know. Then two weeks later when I was back in town, he came down to visit Luke and it happened again. Then the next couple of months we just occasionally saw each other. It's been about six meetings in the past three months."

There was silence on the other end and then finally an exhale that sounded as if it had been held for an entire minute. "Just… be careful, kid. We see Jess regularly. This isn't just someone you can end it with and forget about."

"I got it, mom," Rory replied, looking out at wall-sized window next to her. "I guess I should tell you this as well before you inevitably hear it from Grandma. I'm going to have coffee with Logan in Baltimore, just to catch up."

Lorelai laughed some, shaking her head in surprise. "Wow, okay. Why don't you call Sam and Jake as well? Maybe Thomas, oh and how about Dean?"

Her daughter's eyes rolled as she mentioned her past relationships in the last sixteen years. "Okay, mom. I need to catch my flight. But by the way, I'm not going to sleep with Logan. It's just catching up."

"And Jess is okay with this?"

"He doesn't have to be! We're casual!"

"But, you told him?"

"Yes. He said he's cool with it. He knows we aren't in a relationship. The only person who can't get that through their head is you."

Lorelai groaned and put the mail on the table in front of her. "Alright, alright. I get it. I'll back off. Have a safe flight, hon."

"Love you."

"Love you, too."

* * *

Review? PLEASE!


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